Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

A bill cracking down on people who drive while high on marijuana cleared its first hurdle at the state Capitol today.

The bill would set a limit of THC in blood — 5 nanograms per milliliter — above which a person would be considered too stoned to drive legally. THC is the psychoactive component of marijuana, and bill supporters equated the 5-nanogram level to the .08 blood-alcohol level that determines driving while drunk.

"If you test above that limit," said Rep. Claire Levy, a Boulder Democrat who is one of the bill's sponsors, "you would be guilty of the misdemeanor of driving under the influence of drugs."

After hours of heated testimony, the House Judiciary Committee passed the bill, House Bill 1261, 6-2.

It is already against the law to drive high, and drivers suspected of doing so have to submit to a blood test or face a suspension of their licenses. The bill, its sponsors said, would give law enforcement officers a way to quantify precisely when a person is too stoned to drive.

Around the country, twelve states have zero-tolerance laws for blood-THC levels and two states have a 2-nanogram limit.